In land warfare, the effective range of combat vehicles is a critical factor in achieving a decisive edge over opposing forces. Particularly, the range of the heavy battle tank is often pivotal in a ground combat scenario. Accordingly, the US Army has considered concepts for in-transit refuelling of its heavy battle tank, the Abrams M1A2. One of the concepts is to hitch a trailer carrying a fuel container to the rear of the Abrams tank.
There are certain difficulties in hitching a trailer to an Abrams tank. First, the Abrams has an extremely hot and powerful blast of exhaust gas coming from the rear vent of the tank. Second, the trailer must be clear of rotational path of the tank's main gun when the gun is in a fully depressed, downward pointing position. Third, when the tank turns quickly, the aft end of the tank swings in the opposite direction of the turn, thereby pointing the trailer in the opposite direction of the tank's turn.
I address the foregoing difficulties by an arrangement utilizing a curved, cross-sectionally T-shaped rail affixed to the aft end of the tank and generally centered about a vertical axis passing near the tank's volumetric center. The hitch connection between the combat vehicle and the trailer includes a wheeled carriage that rides on the rail. The carriage has a four element housing that can be quickly assembled or disassembled and can journal multiple sets of vertically and horizontally oriented wheels. The multiple sets of wheels prevent play between the carriage and rail while assuring smooth translation of the carriage along the rail. The wheels are elegantly journalled in sets of simple aligning bores of the four housing pieces. Because of the rail and carriage, the outward swing of the tank's aft end does not misdirect the trailer during sharp turns of the tank.